Black Zombie electric Mustang launches Blood Shed Motors [w/videos]

Say Hello To The First Of Many Classic Muscle Car EV Conversions

As patient zero of Blood Shed Motors, the classic pony car has received a powerful electric transplant.

Lightning repeatedly vanquished the darkness like the angriest of strobe lights and thunder shook the building, punctuating the clatter of a heavy Texas rain on the metal roof as the clock ticked away the initial seconds of a rare full moon Friday the 13th. It was then that the Black Zombie came to life for the first time.

Beneath the hood of this rust-free 1968 Mustang fastback, a 289-cubic-inch V8 no longer turns gasoline into heat, noise and pollution. As patient zero of Blood Shed Motors, the classic pony car has received a powerful electric transplant, and now boasts twinned Warp 11 DC motors and a pair of fresh Zilla controllers that will serve as the basic blueprint for future vehicles. Dubbed the Zombie 222 drivetrain, the setup will be limited to 750 horsepower in customer's cars to keep the maintenance experience low, and eventually will draw power from a 40-kWh battery pack. In this first example, though, the output is bit more extreme. For one day, at least, they have the 1,500-kW-capable pack that powers the record-setting Swamp Rat 37 racer belonging to Don Garlits and a brief window of opportunity to try it out on a track.

Blood Shed Motors is the result of a collaboration between NEDRA co-founder John "Plasma Boy" Wayland, the man who helped bring electric vehicle drag racing to the attention of the world with his unassuming White ZombieDatsun 1200 conversion and Austin, TX business man Mitch Medford, who've put together a small team of experts in their chosen fields.

The plan is to build a limited number of muscle car conversions on pristine early Mustang, Camaro, and Barracuda platforms.

The plan is to build a limited number of high-quality muscle car conversions on pristine (No restored rust buckets!) early Mustang, Camaro, and Barracuda platforms. Each can be customized according to buyer's wishes and blessed with its own serial number. The price tags will be in the eye-watering $200,000-and-up neighborhood, reflective of the cost and rarity of these cars and the custom nature of the alterations.

Of course, you can't just multiply horsepower and add the monster torque that these electric motors put out and expect an antique chassis to hold up. To help keep everything straight and under control in all driving situations – these aren't meant to be quarter-mile queens only, but also enjoyable road machines – the outfit has added subframe connectors and a unique motor cradle that helps stiffen the front end, along with high-performance suspension and other parts.

The next evening, the calender still read Friday the 13th as Black Zombie did its first burnout on the asphalt of the San Antonio Raceway, ahead of a couple shakedown runs. There had been no indication to onlookers that the fastback on the track was anything other than what it appeared to be, so as clouds of smoke raised from the spinning rubber, so did eyebrows. Where was the deafening sound? What was powering that thing?

Where was the deafening sound? What was powering that thing?

A bigger shock was in store, though. As the dragstrip's light tree went green, jaws dropped as the front tires lifted and stayed off the ground for the first 50 yards. A glitch momentarily cut power to the motors and the Mustang seemed to settle. Wayland's foot was still to the floor, however, and so when power somewhat unexpectedly came surging back, the front end again came off the ground despite the 40 miles an hour of forward motion.

The car didn't set any records that night. That was not really the aim. Besides, it was not really prepared to go a full quarter mile at life-threatening speeds. (Something about someone who's name rhymes with "pitch" forgetting to reattach a sway bar and no time for a proper front end alignment.) Still, it reassured the Blood Shed bunch that they are on the right track.

With the first bit of fun out of the way, the real work begins.

Now, with that first bit of fun out of the way, the real work begins. The Black Zombie will be completely disassembled and have every nut and bolt assessed before being reunited with a freshly painted body shell and displayed in front of the crowds at this year's SEMA show. While we wait to see how it all turns out, we have video below of its first launch on the track, along with some burnout footage taken from the air. As an extra bonus, we've thrown in a bit of the original White Zombie – which is also getting a refresh – roasting some tires.

If you want to get an early place in line or just keep up with the project, the company's first sketch of a website can be found here.

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I love driving my EVThing. It is a converted 1974 VW Thing. It has about a 70-80 mile range and while not fast performs much better than the stock ICE engine. Mine will do 0-60 in about ten seconds and tops out at about 80mph. However the 0-40mph is quite quick in the car so it easily keeps up with traffic. www.EVThing.me I would love to do a Ford Model A and a 65 Mustang... I am 100% certain that converting classic to electric drive will be the next big thing in Hot Rodding...

I like the idea. I think the most amazing thing would be if a hi tech electric firm was able to team up with a reproduction body shell firm like DynaCorn. If you could stamp a new reproduction body that had modifications for optimization of electric power ( and maybe a little bit of safety, crumble zones @ anti roll) it would be amazing. If they could stamp them out of aluminium that would be incredible, but that's probably not feasible.

Is it really too much to ask you to read the article? "The car didn't set any records that night. That was not really the aim. Besides, it was not really prepared to go a full quarter mile at life-threatening speeds. (Something about someone who's name rhymes with "pitch" forgetting to reattach a sway bar and no time for a proper front end alignment.) Still, it reassured the Blood Shed bunch that they are on the right track."

A year ago, c'mon AOL! Stop dragging out the same old tired crap - hows the item doing today? Try actually educating and informing nstead of sucking people in with interesting articles with virtually no real information as in statistics / results. It's getting more passe than ever...

That has to be some of the worst writing I have ever seen. How much did they pay you to post this dribble? I love the white zombie and have seen it in person, but whoever they paid to write that "story" and pay ABG to post it needs to keep their day job. Great googly moogly.

Thanks for taking the time to comment and your candor. To be clear, though, nobody paid ABG to post anything. This dribble is entirely mine. I heard about the project, called them up, and tried to relay the story to our readers as I understood it. Though the opening may come across as a contrivance, it actually was, as they say, a dark and stormy night and events unfolded pretty much as described.

Anonymous

1 Year Ago

I'd be surprised if the stock Ford drivetrain and rear suspension is up for it: I'd think it'd twist it all up. What can handle that much power without a total reconstruction? I like the idea of a Countach or Ferrari or Viper with a lunched motor. The cost of rebuilding or replacing the motor in those cars is probably at least $20,000, so that would justify a chunk of the cost of replacing it with electric power plant. What is the weight of the motors and a 25KWH pack? Perhaps 700 pounds? The Viper motor weighs that much.

So with all the stuff you said, why is it so hard to post a top speed, ET, and the optimum speed for distance between recharges? The gear ratio from the motor to the differential would be nice too. Need a real reporter AOL - I'm currently retired and would be happy to do it now and then for say 100USD per hour and expenses. Hook me up and watch your readership grow...